Poem for Liu Xiaobo (2)

I admire the translation of the poem by 小众童网 on CDT. It was probably harder to translate than the one by Meng Lang, although I don’t think Meng Lang is easy to translate. This period since Liu Xiaobo’s terminal illness was announced has brought much attention to poetry by and for Liu Xiaobo and his wife Liu Xia.

Two days ago I discovered a poem on Weibo. I think it wasn’t censored, probably because it is circulated as a picture. My translation is below. Click on the picture on my bloghttp://banianerguotoukeyihe.com/2017/07/20/cannot-speak-his-name-%e6%b9%98%e8%93%ae%e5%ad%90/

and click through to Weibo. Or see the author’s blog: http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4be24db70102wmp4.html

I have also tried to translate (to German) a poem by Liu Xiaobo from 1997. An excerpt was circulated on Twitter when Liu Xiaobo was still alive. You can see the original interspersed with my efforts here:
https://banianerguotoukeyihe.com/2017/07/22/liu-xiaobo-%e5%8a%89%e6%9b%89%e6%b3%a2%ef%bc%9a-du-platzt-%e4%bd%a0%e7%82%b8%e8%a3%82-1997/
Two sections were published in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and Neue Zürcher Zeitung. They are very poignant. There is one section that I found too hard to translate. I googled the two most difficult lines, and found an entry titled “Who writes better poetry, Liu Xiaobo or a junior high school student?”

I have translated poems by Liu Xiaobo and Liu Xia before. They are often very poignant. Some can certainly stand alone without context as fascinating poems.

On the day Liu Xiaobo died, the Taiwanese poet Hung Hung wrote a poem and posted it on his Facebook account. You can find it in Chinese, English and German here:https://banianerguotoukeyihe.com/2017/07/19/hung-hungs-poem-for-liu-xiaobo/

It was recited at a memorial a few days later. There is a rather radical political conclusion at the end. When I read the poem by 小众童网 translated by Anne Henochowicz, I was struck by the reference to the end of the Ming Dynasty. The country, the empire has to end. Wasn’t that in 1644? Why does it end four years after 1630 in the poem? I don’t know, and the question certainly doesn’t deflect from the overall effect and impression.

Yi Sha伊沙 has written poems mentioning his college teacher Liu Xiaobo since 1988. The first one, from 1988, can only be circulated as a picture in China, because the title is LIU XIAOBO. Because of Yi Sha’s characteristic irreverent, very direct and very personal style, you get something on this topic that I have seen nowhere else, in China or elsewhere. For now, I have only translated these poems into German. But you can also find the originals here: https://banianerguotoukeyihe.com/2017/07/22/yi-sha-%e4%bc%8a%e6%b2%99-liu-xiaobo-%e5%8a%89%e6%9b%89%e6%b3%a2/

Martin Winter

Xiang Lianzi
CANNOT SPEAK HIS NAME

something like expressive aphasia
we all have a problem with naming names

cannot say the time
we can only stutter
beat around the bush
a clock
turning hands

cannot say cause and effect
just hold it back
say retribution

cannot say the place
just say it was crawling with people
and mysterious creatures
with a dead body

cannot say the sea
only
salute

all of july
all the world saluting to him
we cannot say his name

7/20/17
Translated by MW, 7/20/17

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